Rina Sawayama has shared the title track from her upcoming second album, ‘Hold The Girl’.
The British-Japanese pop star has shared the deeply personal song penned after she was reduced to tears following a therapy session in 2020.
Rina said of the track in a press release: “’Hold the Girl’ was the first song I wrote for the record at the end of 2020 – I had gone to therapy and had a revelation, so I decided to write this song … that was the start of it. I was crying before going into the studio to write about it.”
A music video is set to follow on August 3.
The ‘Beg For You’ singer has also announced that the album – the follow-up to her acclaimed 2020 self-titled LP ‘SAWAYAMA’ – has been delayed slightly, moving from a September 2 release date to September 16, due to “production issues”.
The 31-year-old star recently teased that the upcoming album is inspired by Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’.
The ‘Chosen Family’ singer revealed how the pop megastar’s 2020 LP, “a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness” out of her imagination, influenced her forthcoming collection.
She said: “I remember when Taylor Swift released ‘Folklore’, I was like, ‘This b**** is writing about fake stories and she just wrote a whole album. If she can do it, I need to do it.’”
Rina’s trauma is interwoven into the 13 songs on the record, but she’s not ready to address what she went through directly yet.
She explained: “For me, it’s important that the listener is able to listen to it as a pop record first without that background, [and] make their own feelings about it.
“And then, when I’m ready, I think I will be able to talk about what it’s actually about.”
Meanwhile, Rina is set to embark on a North American headline tour this November.
Tickets will be available on Friday (29.07.22) from www.rina.online.
The American leg of the ‘Hold The Girl’ tour will follow on from her UK and Ireland dates this October, where she will play to a sold-out O2 Brixton Academy.
Rina will also play Summer Sonic in Japan and Electric Picnic in Ireland.